If you are into maintaining North American freshwater fishes in the
aquarium, this book has the potential of being a cherished bible for
years to come. The book is a hefty 428 pages, and is sprinkled with
photographs, the most notable of which are a series of 118 color photographs
in the center of the book. The book covers almost all aspects of keeping
North American native fish, right down from how to collect your own
fishes, a state-by-state account of the legality of collecting native
fishes, to the correct species of aquatic plants to maintain in your
North American biotope tank.

The section on ictalurid catfishes covers only the husbandry of madtoms
(Noturus) in the aquarium; the larger ictalurids, i.e. the flathead
catfish (Pylodictis), channel catfish (Ictalurus) and bulheads (Ameiurus)
are glossed over, with the statement that these grow too large to maintain
in the average aquarium. While this is probably the most reasonable
thing to do, it would have been nice to include at least some notes
on maintaining these fish in aquaria. The husbandry information for
madtoms are listed by species and fairly detailed for some of the more
commonly-encountered species. Tips are also given on how to induce spawning
in madtoms.

This book has the makings of a classic and I strongly recommend it to
anyone interested in keeping North American native fishes.